If you have heard of Ruja Ignatova, the kingpin of OneCoin that has swindled hundreds of millions of dollars from people in the United States or Ash Mufareh of OnPassive or Dan Settgast the mastermind behind web of fraudulent ventures such as Yem Coin, Bene Bene Merenti etcetera, it is time to know another name of a nest of fake journalists in the European Union running a least-known website named EU Reporter. In fact, this name might not have surfaced on the web unless it had attempted to pretend as an international election observer by accepting few thousand dollars from a man named Mawlana Mohammad Abed Ali and sent one of the members of this nexus of fake journalists to observe the upcoming general election in Bangladesh.
Nick Powell, who is described as ‘Political Editor’ of EU Reporter visited Bangladesh recently pretending as an election observer from the European Union and held series of meetings with high-profile figures, including the Chief Election Commissioner.
Before finalizing such meetings, it seems no one had tried to go through due diligence to understand the actual nature of the people involved in EU Reporter.
Searching the web, the name of EU Reporter emerged on Wikipedia. Through a careful vetting of this Wikipedia page, anyone will easily understand, this has been created by the members of this nest of fake journalists possibly by paying few hundred dollars to one of the so-called editors of Wiki.
Most interestingly, while the Wikipedia page of EU Reporter says, “EU Reporter is a Brussels-based news website publishing content relating to the European Union, founded in 2002”, in reality, the domain of this website was purchased in 2010 and launched in 2011. Meaning, the information provided in the Wikipedia page is absolutely false.
This Wikipedia page mentions about an “article” published in Politico under the title ‘Dark news: The murky world of undercover EU lobbying’ which may sound like a critical report against EU Reporter. In fact, it is not! The Politico stuff is a propaganda content, most definitely being published by EU Reporter to establish itself as a strong platform lobbying in favor of individuals, organizations and governments in the European Union.
Commenting on EU Reporter, Politico said, “EU Reporter — owned by Colin Stevens, a British former television executive who has plied his trade in the Brussels bubble of policymakers, journalists and lobbyists for two decades — pitches itself to prospective clients eager to gain traction within the EU’s halls of power”.
“Our business model is to offer political parties, businesses, NGOs, industry associations, financial institutions and governments the opportunity to use EU Reporter to influence the European political decision-making process by sponsoring coverage and the placement of positive news stories and editorial comment related to them”, the narrator says. “Use EU Reporter to influence”.”
Surprisingly, the LinkedIn profile link of Colin Steven’s of EU Reporter as stated by Politico in it’s so-called report does not exist!
EU Reporter is actually a nest of several unscrupulous cash-hungry individuals who are offering lobbyist services in the European Union being dressed up as journalists.
On its LinkedIn ID, EU Reporter says: “EU Reporter is widely read by law makers, policy and business decision-makers in Brussels and national capitals around the EU. The magazine is distributed to every Member of the European Parliament, thousands of senior officials in the EU institutions and member states’ representations, as well as in over one hundred diplomatic missions in Brussels and in NATO headquarters. It is also widely distributed at high-level conferences, in hotels in Brussels’ EU quarter and in think-tanks on both sides of the Atlantic. It is distributed in the UK Westminster Parliament, the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly as well as to individual subscribers”.
Anyone with only a minimal experience of investigative journalism will understand the actual agenda behind the above statement.
The website of EU Reporter says, this site is owned by EU Reporter Media & Communications Ltd with business address at 77 Lower Camden Street, Sandyford, Dublin, D02 XE80, Ireland and registered office at The Black Church, St Mary’s Place, Dublin 7, D07 P4AX, Ireland (Company No: 659786, VAT No: IE 3732102TH).
People behind EU Reporter:
On its “Our Team” page, there are several names as the team of this website. Let me give further details.
Colin Stevens is the President and Editor in Chief of EU Reporter. His bio says, “Colin Stevens founded EU Reporter in 2008. He has more than 30 years of experience as a TV producer and journalist working in both television and radio for BBC, ITV, SKY, CNN, Channel 4, S4C and JN1.TV. He has won numerous awards including New York Film and Television Festival, Golden Video Award, BAFTA Best News & Actuality Reporting, and Brighton Wildlife Film Festival Best Documentary. He is a former news editor and editor of related programmes at ITV Wales and was deputy CEO of Quadrant Media & Communications. He is a past president of the Press Club Brussels (2020-2022) and was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Letters at Zerah Business School (Malta and Luxembourg) for leadership in European journalism”.
First of all, there was nothing called EU Reporter in 2008. The domain of this website was purchased in 2010 and it was launched on August 9, 2011. Moreover, Colin Stevens’ claim of working in BBC, ITV, SKY, CNN and Channel 4 is outrageously bogus.
All other individuals claiming to be journalists with long-career in EU Reporter are also false.
EU Reporter was first owned by a company named Half Tidy Limited with address at Rue Wiertz 31, 1050 Brussels, Belgium and registered office at 34 Wellfield Road, Cardiff, CF24 3PB. United Kingdom.
As several leaders of the European Union have already faced bribery and corruption allegations, it is important that the members of Europol now pay a visit at the office of EU Reporter, investigate their dubious activities and take necessary actions as this outlet is offering lobbyist services under the garb of journalism.
